Non-Destructive Nanoscale Resolution using a Carbon Nanotube Scanning Thermal Probe
Lead Research Organisation:
Lancaster University
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
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Publications
Trabelsi AB
(2014)
Charged nano-domes and bubbles in epitaxial graphene.
in Nanotechnology
Zhuang QD
(2014)
Graphitic platform for self-catalysed InAs nanowires growth by molecular beam epitaxy.
in Nanoscale research letters
| Description | As at the onset of this project a very little was known on how such would operate and how to engineer it, we built a comprehensive multi-scale computational physical model of a probe operating in various environments. The immediate result of such study was a novel design of the thermal probe, not anticipated a priori, where multiwall CNT is attached to the side of a thermal sensor. Simultaneously, the modeling of SThM for the key materials used in semiconductor industry and nanotechnology such as Si, suggested that thermal resolution below 50 nm may not be beneficial, due to a large mean-free-path of thermal carriers, whereas an efficient and stable thermal contact between the probe apex and the sample is of a paramount importance. These findings prompted development of a dedicated nanofabricated thermal transport test samples, "staircases" of few atomic layer materials, new IP on nanoscale sections of heterostructures that is now being considered for commercial exloitation, and trenched substrates where thermally probed layered materials can be suspended. We built unique variable environment SThM setup operating from a high vacuum of 10-7 torr (ten billionth of the atmospheric pressure) to ambient air and even liquid environments, that also allowed independent monitoring of nanoscale tip-sample contact via nanomechanical measurements. Using this system, we for the first time mapped thermal conductivity of graphene (a relative to CNT in terms of material nature and thermal conductivity) and directly compared nanoscale diffusive and ballistic heat transfer regimes. We also, for the first time, were able to correlate thermal transport between the probe apex with contact area measured via nanomechanical tests, paving the way for novel quantitative approaches in nanoscale thermal measurements. Finally, the prototypes of CNT-SThM probes manufactured jointly with Durham University, according to the new design rules, indicated a notable improvement of a thermal contrast and lateral thermal resolution below 50 nm, as well as superior topography resolution, thus accomplishing a key objective of the current project. An unexpected benefit of this study was a development of a fully "immersed" SThM - iSThM. Such probe can significantly improve the thermal contact between the SThM tip and the sample, and its stability, but until our study, it was considered impossible due to perceived direct heat dissipation from the thermal sensor into the surrounding liquid, and degradation of lateral resolution. Notwithstanding, guided by our modeling, we tested such iSThM and successfully demonstrated nanoscale thermal mapping with 50 nm lateral resolution on the polymer-ceramic-metal Ultra Large Scale Integration interconnects. Such iSThM, would be of extreme interest for biotechnology, and functioning of nanoscale catalysts, to mention a few. |
| Exploitation Route | The novel efficient nanoscale thermal microscopy methods will be of extremely wide use in the industrial laboratories and in teh production quality control environments. Novel approach to preparation of samples for nanoscale probe microscopy and scanning thermal microscopy is explored for exploitation via companies producing sample preparation equipment for SEM and related studies, as well via service companies and instrumentation companies. |
| Sectors | Education,Electronics,Healthcare |
| URL | http://www.nano-science.com |
| Description | The finding were used in the EU FP7 project QUANTIHEAT where they have been applied to the study nanothermal properties of various industrial materials including semiconductor processing and compound semiconductors. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Energy |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | European Commission (EC) |
| Amount | £38,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | FUNPROB |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 06/2011 |
| End | 06/2015 |
| Description | FP7 QUANTIHEAT |
| Amount | € 586,000 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | 604668 |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 12/2013 |
| End | 11/2017 |
| Company Name | Lancaster Materials Analysis |
| Description | Services to the industry and implementation of IP based on Lancaster patent US9082587 |
| Year Established | 2014 |
| Impact | Demonstrated potential for replacing TEM and SEM methods by less expensive in the characterization of semiconductor and optoelectronic structures |
| Website | http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/articles/2014/novel-materials-analysis-technique-promises-to-reduce-... |